Ministry is for Liberation

Between 1978 and 1987 I spent a great deal of time in Catholic seminaries, both in the US and in Rome. During the later years of this period I finally became cognizant of a pattern among candidates for the priesthood that I notice among clergy to this day–an unhealthy pattern that has become even more prominent since then.

For too many members of the clergy, ministry appears to be about control. They speak to parishioners and go about their clerical duties as if people, ideas, beliefs, proposals, and actions all have to be closely monitored for the possibility of sin or error. For them, the sermon is an opportunity to correct people, to set the record straight, to condemn ideas and activities with which they disagree. Their message is one that concentrates on all the things people shouldn’t be doing. The words of 1 Peter 5:8 seem to explain their ministry as they warn us that “the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

These priests are the ones who refuse to baptize a child if the parents haven’t been to mass for a while. Their concern is a genuine one, no doubt, but their refusal does more damage than good. There are many ways to encourage a young couple to return to active participation in the parish. Refusing to baptize their baby isn’t one of them. Such priests often run their parishes like small fiefdoms, jealously guarding whatever spiritual or ecclesiastical power they believe to have been bestowed upon them by the sacrament of ordination.

It’s almost as if they want to keep God in a box. When the Spirit breaks forth and does something liberating, they scurry to control the divine outbreak as if it were a deadly virus.

Sadly, this same attitude infects many deacons as well. They seem to be imitating the predominant ministerial model at work around them. Unfortunately, it’s rare that I meet one who projects himself as a servant instead of a sergeant. Rules and orders are important, but do they really need to claim the central place of honor in one’s faith or ministry?

I remember standing in the hallway of my seminary when I finally recognized the choice before me. I was sharing with another seminarian the challenges and joys associated with our chosen ministries. He was disappointed while I was elated. As I walked away from the conversation I realized why this was so. He sought to control and correct those he served. I prayed as I walked to my room. “I don’t want to control people, Lord–I want to liberate them.” The insight inspires me still.

Controllers see dangers and problems. Liberators see opportunities. Controllers want to stamp out sin. Liberators want to raise awareness and increase holiness. Controllers emphasize rules. Liberators emphasize grace. One of these approaches is very Roman while the other is very Catholic. The dichotomy offers us a choice–the same choice highlighted with the first post of this blog. It needs to be faced by everyone who serves in the church, from the lay minister to the bishop.

What is the unspoken motto of the controllers? Perhaps it’s something like this: “Follow the rules and do as those rules tell you to do.” For me, I prefer the admonition of St. Augustine of Hippo: “Love and do what you will. If you keep silence, do it out of love. If you cry out, do it out of love. If you refrain from punishing, do it out of love” (Homily 7: On the First Epistle of John).

Responses

“To adore … means to lose oneself in the unfathomable … to plunge into the inexhaustible … to find peace in the incorruptible … to be absorbed in defined immensity … to offer oneself to the fire and the transparency … to annihilate oneself in proportion as one becomes more deliberately conscious of oneself … to give one’s deepest self to the One whose depth has no end ….” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Would it be simplistic to say that what you describe is the Post-Vatican II Church and the Pre-Vatican II Church? Vatican II liberated the Church but the pendulum has swung back to a controlling Church. I hope and pray that Pope Francis will again “open the windows.”

The pope didn’t say “Do Good works and you’ll be saved.” What he’s talking about is that if one is atttipemng to live a moral life and care for ones neighbor, that path will eventually lead to God.I think he’s thinking of the Mortimer Adlers of the world….And, of course, the Pope’s idea of a ‘Moral Life” and your garden variety atheist’s idea probably have some …differences.This isn’t really a new idea though. The Church believes that God has places a desire for Him in all human hearts, and that all people have the ability to seek him and find him, because he calls all people to him.So if you’re living a life of morality and service to neighbor, you’ll eventually run across God (because he’s always lurking) and follow him.The problem is that when we live lives devoted to Self and Pleasure, we stop looking outside ourselves for meaning. And then, we can’t find God, because we’ve essentially given up.But the atheist who strives to live a virtuous life and cares for others is a seeking atheist, not a despairing one. He’s on a path that will let him accept Jesus’s gift of faith once he encounters him.Basically, Catholics believe that God ardently desires ALL people to know and love him. We’e not predestined to damnation. We damn ourselves when we all ourselves up in hedonistic self pleasure and ignore the life of love and service that will make us happy. The atheist who tries to do good has not yet damned himself.